[nly]

Pronunciation can be a very individual or regional thing when it comes to technical abbreviations. I just finished watching the Channel9 GoingNative talks (C++), and was surprised to find a couple of the most respected C++ guys pronounce 'ptr' as 'put-er' (not 'putter') instead of 'pointer'.

Personally I'll continue to pronounce it as 'try'. It has, at least, fewer conflicting interpretations in a programming context. When I say 'tree', people will probably assume I mean a binary tree, not a radix tree. So, if I'm not going at 30% light speed, I'll just say that.

[leif]

Mispronouncing variables is great fun. We have lots of "txn_XXX" which we pronounce "texan_XXX", and "le_XXX" (short for "leafentry XXX", as in "le_key"), which always make us sound like we're mocking French people.

[nly]

Now you're getting it. I also pronounce 'char' from C as if it's short for charred, rather than character. Principally because I find it easier easier to say 'char star' with that vocalisation. I know one guy who, if speaking quickly, would pronounce 'char* sugar' as 'caster sugar'... come to think of it, I'm not sure how Americans pronounce 'caster', but in the UK it's car-stir sugar. Not 'Casper', as in the friendly ghost, but with a 't'.

I've never had a problem with people using different pronunciations. It certainly keeps talking about code fresh.

[bjeanes]

cache is a fun one (cash or kay-sh?). Most Australians I know (and possibly people from the UK too) say it as "cash"

[DigitalJack]

Under what rules of pronunciation would it be Kay-sh?

I recognize pronunciation is more about exceptions than rules, but even so...

[gruseom]

Heh. When we have a variable name with a question mark to denote a boolean, as in "ready?", we pronounce the question mark "what" like an old-school English gentleman—so, "readywhat", or rather: "Ready, what?" It still cracks me up sometimes.

[jloughry]

I was taught by Evi Nemeth (requiescat in pace) that trie pronounced like "try" and to use it that way.